1. Technical Field
This invention relates to customer survey systems and, more particularly, to a customer survey system with an imaging system to prevent fraudulent surveys by employees.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of an existing on-premises paging system 10, such as a paging system used in business establishments while customers wait for services to be performed, or in eating or drinking establishments such as restaurants to notify waiting customers that a table is available. A centralized control station 11 includes a page transmitter 12 and, for example, a plurality of buttons 13a-13n which may be pressed individually to send a page to one of an associated plurality of pagers 14a-14n. 
FIG. 2 is a simplified functional block diagram of one of the plurality of pagers 14 in the existing system of FIG. 1. The pager includes a page receiver 15 and a signal analyzer 16, which determines whether a received signal is intended for that pager. If the received signal is not intended for that pager, the pager takes no action as shown at 17. If the received signal is intended for that pager, the pager activates an alerting mechanism 18, which alerts the user that a page has been received. In the example of an on-premises paging system in a restaurant, lights in the pager may flash, or the pager may vibrate or beep to indicate to the customer that a table is ready.
In many restaurants, the wait for a table may be long and boring. To help solve this problem, the Applicants previously obtained U.S. Pat. No. 6,573,824 for a Combination Paging and Gaming System and Apparatus, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The Combination Paging and Gaming System enables a user to utilize a pager to play an electronic game while waiting for a page.
With the previous system, however, the customer was typically required to relinquish the game pager when the customer's table was ready. This was a disadvantage in situations where a member of the customer's party desired to continue playing the game while waiting for the food order to be delivered to the table.
Other existing paging systems also fail to address additional problems that customers typically encounter when dining at a restaurant. For example, when a customer has a request for his waiter, the customer typically has to wait for the waiter to notice him or come to the table for another reason. It can be frustrating to customers when their waiter disappears for an extended period when the customer requires some service. Additionally, in the past, the customer has not had the ability to check his current bill during the meal or pay electronically from the table. Typically, the customer has to wait until the meal is completed, and the final check is delivered to the table, to discover the amount of the bill. The customer must then wait for his waiter to collect the payment from the table, record the payment through the point-of-sale (POS) system, and return with a receipt or credit card printout for the customer's signature.
It is also known in the art to utilize computer-based devices to collect customer information. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,075 to Plainfield et al. discloses a PC-based, interactive, programmable system that induces customers of a restaurant to enter information about themselves or to answer survey questions. The program is run on a PC, and the customer enters the information in data fields displayed on the PC's monitor. The Plainfield system is bulky, however, and is devoted to only this one task.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,960,988 to Blink et al. assigned to the Assignee of the instant application, solves some of the above problems through the use of a multi-function customer satisfaction survey device that also functions as a restaurant tip tray and calculator. Survey questions are presented on a display screen, and the customer enters responses using a survey keypad. The responses are stored in a memory in the tray. The trays stack on a base unit that simultaneously collects the responses from the stacked trays, simultaneously programs the stacked trays with survey questions, and simultaneously recharges a battery in each tray. The Blink device, however, is not appropriate for use in some restaurant settings such as fast-food restaurants, or in other retail business establishments where tip trays are not utilized.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,652,558 to Lovegreen et al., also assigned to the Assignee of the instant application, solves additional problems through the use of a multi-function customer satisfaction survey device that also functions as a restaurant tip tray with wireless point-of-sale (POS) connectivity. The Lovegreen device enables the customer to wirelessly access the POS system to check his current bill during the meal or to pay electronically from the table.
All existing customer-survey devices, however, suffer from the problem of fraudulent surveys that are actually filled out by an employee such as a waiter rather than the customer. There is currently no way to detect such fraudulent surveys.